It’s Ash Wednesday
and I’m at the Vigil Mass
to receive my ashes
and My God.
Before I set foot in the chapel
I know exactly what I will be praying for
during this Lent.
But as Mass unfolds
I have a sense that,
rather than telling My God
what I want this Lent,
I should instead be asking Him
what He wants me to do.

And so I sit
and I resolve to try to LISTEN
during Lent
(even though I’m half-afraid
of what I might hear).

© Claire Murray, 6th March 2019

This has been a Lent like no other,
with so much illness and death.
It’s been a tough time
and my heart feels heavy
as I walk through the door
for Easter Sunday Mass.

To my delight
the church is lit up
by many candles on the altar
and, more importantly,
by the children’s choir
which soon fills the church
with songs of “alleluia” and “hosanna”!
The songs are simple
and the voices light and lilting,
full of energy,
full of life,
full of hope!

Thank you, Lord,
for the gift of these children
who sang like angels this morning
proclaiming the Easter message of hope
and lighting up
the darkness of life.

© Claire Murray, 1st April 2018

American TV programmes
often emphasize Christmas spirit
and Christmas is portrayed as a time
to reach out,
to welcome,
to forgive.

Today I can’t help wondering
whatever happened to Easter spirit?
Does it exist?
Has it ever really caught on?

When Jesus rose from the dead,
he spoke words of peace,
not recrimination,
“Peace be with you …”
As Easter people,
we should be full of hope,
ready to forgive.

It’s not always easy;
life is complicated
and relationships are complex.
But today I find myself wondering
how I am being called
to display Easter spirit?

© Claire Murray, 19th April 2017

I enter a church by the canals of Milan –
the church of Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Naviglio.
It’s Easter Saturday
and the empty tabernacle gapes at me
from the altar.
I have seen this many times before,
a stark reminder
that Jesus has died.

From the church entrance
I can see that something has been placed
before the altar.
As I approach
I can see that it’s the crucified Christ.

The crucified Christ
has been laid out,
at rest,
still on his cross,
at the foot of the altar
as if in preparation for his funeral.

I feel as if I have walked into a wake.

Blood drips from the nailed hands of Jesus
running down his arms.
The knees of Jesus are bloodied too.
This is a very stark reminder
of Jesus’s death,
a shocking depiction of the sacrifice
that Jesus made for me.

I find this difficult and challenging
but also necessary –
only when I have experienced
the sorrow of the crucified Christ
can I then move on to experience
the joy of the resurrection.

© Claire Murray, 15th April 2017

Easter this year has been a time
of France and birthdays,
sun cream and sun glasses,
blue skies and the sparkling Mediterranean sea.

It has been a time
of lazy days
spent with family
and of two glorious weeks
spent off work!
Wonderful!

But all too soon
my holiday is over
and Monday morning finds me
cycling across the Queen Elizabeth Bridge
on my way to work.

Grey skies and mist,
wet feet and waterproofs –
the antithesis of France!

Turning a corner
at the end of the bridge
I find myself greeted
by hundreds of daffodils,
golden and gently swaying
in the morning rain.
The daffodils must have appeared
during my fortnight’s break,
thriving in the damp, Irish weather!

The sight of the daffodils
lifts my heart
and whispers an assurance
that summer is not far off.

Thank you, Lord,
for the gift of these daffodils
which welcomed me
on a rainy day
as I returned to work!

© Claire Murray, 2nd April 2016

Lord,
today feels like Easter –
sunshine and birdsong outside
and a sense of hope and forgiveness
in my heart.

As I settle down in prayer
my mind fills
with those occasions
when you appeared to your disciples
after your resurrection.
Those appearances were times
of gentleness, patience
and forgiveness
as you walked and talked with your disciples
on the way to Emmaus
before breaking bread with them
and as you sat
by the shores of the sea of Tiberius
with your disciples
chatting and eating grilled fish.

Lord,
in this season of Easter
give me the grace to display towards others
the same gentleness, patience
and forgiveness
that you have shown towards me
so that, in my life,
I may spread the light of Easter
instead of holding onto
the darkness of the past.

© Claire Murray, 2nd April 2016

Today’s my birthday,
which I love,
and it’s Easter Sunday,
which I also love.

YAY!
D O U B L E      C E L E B R A T I O N S ! ! !

I feel excited and delighted,
filled with the happiness
that a birthday brings
and at the same time
I feel steeped in the swirl
of peace, joy and forgiveness
that this Easter brings.

What a feeling!

As it happens,
we spend most of the day
journeying home from France,
waiting and travelling
on buses and on the plane.
Thankfully,
all goes according to plan.

I don’t mind
that most of the day is spent travelling
because no matter what we do today,
it’s my Easter birthday!

Watching the sunset from the bus
on our way back to Belfast
I give thanks to My God
for his many gifts today –
a day spent happily with my family,
a day spent travelling safely
and the precious gift
of an Easter Sunday birthday.

Bliss!

© Claire Murray

On Palm Sunday
Jesus was certainly
the hero of the hour –
practically carried, shoulder-high,
into Jerusalem
by crowds who shouted, cheered
and waved palms,
parting before him
in a sea of welcome.

This was truly an ancient equivalent
of a modern-day ticker-tape parade!

How could it possibly be
that only a few days later
these same people
were chanting as one voice,
“Crucify him!”?

How could people be so fickle?

Surely, two thousand years later,
people are no longer like that,
and crowds could not be swayed so easily?
Or could they?

And yet
you only have to follow soccer on TV
to know that people today are every bit as fickle
as they were in Jesus’ time.

It only takes a run of defeats
to cause “loyal” supporters
to forget all about
a wealth of silverware accumulated
and a string of leagues won.

I sometimes wonder
whether soccer managers
might have a unique insight
into how Jesus felt
as he stood before Pilate,
hearing crowds chanting for his execution?

Times have certainly changed …
… but sadly,
human nature hasn’t.

© Claire Murray, 22nd March 2016

As night time falls
a crowd gathers
outside the Cathedral of Saint Réparate
in Nice
for the Easter Vigil Mass.
It’s almost time for Mass to begin
and yet, surprisingly,
the cathedral doors remain locked.

Uncertainty is in the air.

Armed soldiers arrive,
apparently to protect worshippers
from the threat of terrorist attack.

Now, fear is in the air.

At last
the cathedral doors open
and priests emerge.
The Paschal fire is lit
and the Easter Vigil Mass finally begins –
candles and song,
priests and procession,
light into darkness.

As we all enter the cathedral
fears of terrorist attacks
fade from our minds.
During Mass
fear is replaced by joy
as we listen to the Good News
of the Resurrection.
The cathedral fills with light
and with the clamour
of joyful church bells.

This joy lingers
as we all file out
when Mass ends.
And yet I find that my Easter joy
is tinged, this year,
with a sense of sadness
that when I celebrated Easter this year
in a European country
I experienced, to my surprise,
fear.

How sad is that?

© Claire Murray, 27th March 2016